Tense night over the Baltics: Vilnius airport briefly halts flights, NATO jets scrambled over Latgale
Overnight into September 22, Vilnius airport imposed hours-long airspace restrictions amid a suspected hybrid attack blamed on Belarus, while Latvia scrambled NATO fighters the same evening over a possible airspace threat in Latgale.
Late Monday evening and into the early hours of Tuesday, airspace over the Baltic states saw heightened alert, with both Lithuania and Latvia responding to possible security threats.
Vilnius airport temporarily closed
On Sunday, September 21, at around 11:25 p.m., temporary airspace restrictions were introduced over Vilnius airport. Lithuanian outlet Lrytas.lt reported the cause as a hybrid attack attributed to Belarus, targeting Lithuania, civil aviation and the public. Aviation systems detected navigation signatures in the risk zones typical of weather or surveillance balloons.
Airport operations resumed around 2:40 a.m. once the restrictions were lifted, according to Lietuvos oro uostai, the company managing Lithuania's airports. More than ten flights were affected during the disruption: some aircraft scheduled to land in Vilnius were diverted to Kaunas or Riga, while other flights were cancelled outright. Several departures from Vilnius were also delayed.
Alert extends to Latgale
The same evening, a possible threat was also reported on the Latvian side of the border. Residents of Krāslava municipality received a cell broadcast warning about a potential risk in the airspace. According to information from the National Armed Forces, the situation was resolved late in the evening and no further action was required. The yellow-level airspace warning in Krāslava municipality lasted just under two hours.
In connection with the possible threat, NATO fighter jets were scrambled on Monday evening.
Such alerts have become increasingly familiar in Latgale and Vidzeme over recent months, with residents repeatedly receiving similar cell broadcast warnings. Several drones have actually crashed and exploded on Latvian territory, while others have been shot down by NATO member states' fighter jets. These incidents are believed to be linked to drones associated with the Russia-Ukraine war approaching or entering Latvian airspace.
